The present invention relates to chicken-raising barns or broiler houses, and more particularly, to an animal husbandry tunnel door with adjoining extrusions for closing tunnel ventilation openings typically in boiler houses.
The U.S. Poultry Industry has enjoyed a remarkable period of growth and expansion because health-conscious Americans are eating more chicken and because poultry meat is economical relative to competing food items.
Fifty years ago it took over twelve weeks to raise a four-pound broiler. Chickens or broilers have been selected for increased meat yield, better feed conversion and high growth rates for many decades. Through advances in genetic selection and nutrition, a five pound broiler can now be raised in six to seven weeks. Genetics and nutritional improvements in broiler production have been extremely important to the efficiency of poultry meat production; however, the full genetic potential of broilers cannot be reached unless the proper environment is maintained in the broiler house.
Broiler houses 10 shown in Prior Art FIG. 1 in the United States are constructed of wood or steel trusses and supports. The houses 10 are clear span structures from sidewall 14 to sidewall 14. The trusses are engineered to support the weight of the roof without the need of support posts that make it harder to catch birds and the clean out the house. The floor is typically compacted dirt that is covered with bedding material. House 10 dimensions are usually 40-50 feet wide, 400-600 feet long and with 8 foot high sidewalls 14. With increased broiler production, housing dimensions may also increase in the near future. Broiler houses utilize drop ceilings as they reduce the ceiling surface area and allows for the installation of ceiling insulation to reduce heat gain during hot weather and heat loss during cold weather. Modern broiler houses 10 are well insulated. Broiler houses 10 are constructed with access doors 12 and solid sidewalls 14 with tunnel openings or inlets 16.
The tunnel openings 16 might range in dimensions of 5 foot by 80 feet, depending upon the length of the house 10 or environment.
Early on, curtains 18 were mounted to close the tunnel openings 16 as they were connected to cabling 20 and an actuator or winch 22. During hot weather, the curtains 18 were open and during cold weather the curtains were closed. Ventilation is important because it delivers fresh air and removes excess heat, moisture and undesirable gases from the broiler house 10. Exhaust fans (not shown) are typically mounted in a broiler house 10 to assist the intake of fresh air into the housing. Cooling ventilation is particularly necessary for the chickens who produced body heat along with sun radiant heat and outside ambient high temperatures. Curtains 18 for tunnel openings 16 posed problems in cold weather in that they do not seal tight and stay sealed when the broiler house 10 is being exhausted. They also offer no or little insulation to keep the house warm during the cold or winter months.
Since early 2000, tunnel opening curtains 18 have generally been replaced with tunnel doors 31, as shown in Prior Art FIG. 2, along with evaporative coolers 26 having water saturated cellulous like pads 28. For this arrangement to work, tunnel door frames 30 were built around the tunnel openings where as the tunnel doors 31 at their lower edges would have hinges 34 to close the tunnel doors 31 over the tunnel opening 16 up against the tunnel door frames 30. Gaskets 36 were also used to improve the closed seal. Cables 38 were used to open and close the tunnel doors 31.
Problems with these tunnel doors 31 included their lack of insulation and proper alignment on the door frames to close the tunnel openings 16 and to work in unison with other tunnel doors suitably secured to each other. Often, the tunnel door 31 weight would force the door out of square creating large cracks and leaks for cold air to enter the broiler house during winter months. Hinge 34 durability was also a problem in that plastic hinges would split and breakdown over time. These prior art doors 31 needed to be pulled up tight to the door frame 30 to seal and were often held to adjacent tunnel doors by H channels with screws. These prior tunnel doors 31 extended along the sidewall 14 of the broiler house 10 for nearly 80 feet with a five foot height. Installation and proper alignment of the tunnel doors 31 were labor intensive and required many parts. “H” channels and screws were required to be properly aligned and secured. Older broiler houses posed problems with “squaring” everything up for a proper fit and seal.
Evaporative cooling systems 26 were found valuable during hot weather. Recirculating water would run through a perforated pipe at the top of the cool cell pads 28. Water runs down and through the pad 28 soaking it. Any water that is not evaporated is caught in a trough at the bottom of the pad that delivers the unused water back to the reservoir to be pumped through the system again. Depending on environmentally conditions (temperature and humidity), incoming air temperatures can be lowered by ten degrees Fahrenheit or more utilizing evaporative cooling systems 26.
There is a need for an animal husbandry tunnel door with lightweight, simple, economical adjoining extrusions for closing tunnel ventilation openings in broiler houses.